The present invention relates to a power converter of the type which elevates a low level DC voltage to a higher level DC voltage. More particularly the present invention relates to elevating the voltage of a seawater battery.
The Navy uses many devices deployed at sea which require independent electrical power such as ocean sensors (temperature, salinity, etc.) undersea search vehicles, underwater weapons and telemetry systems. The power packages for these types of devices should be compact, low cost, light weight, and safe. The Navy has developed lithium batteries for some of these devices, however lithium batteries are costly and can explode when shorted. Other types of batteries, such as carbon-zinc dry cells, lead oxide cells, and silver-zinc cells do not have sufficient energy densities for most of these types of devices. Many of the prior art batteries also suffer from being depth sensitive and/or having a short term power capability.
A seawater battery can provide a safe, high energy density, low cost deep ocean power source for applications which require low power and long endurance. However, a disadvantage of seawater batteries is that they provide a low voltage output, typically around one volt DC, which is too low for many solid state applications. Therefore, a need exists for an efficient means for transforming the low voltage output of a low voltage direct current source, such as a seawater battery, to a higher voltage.